(above) Kyle Ostrow is surrounded by a pack of Terriers
(above) Chevy makes a save against BU's Chris Higgins "Obviously losing Tyler Bozak is a big loss for our team, but we're a deep team. I think this weekend was about effort. We didn't come out and compete hard enough."- Tyler Ruegsegger
F – Everett Sheen, Holy Cross
F – Jason Lawrence, Boston
F – Anthony Maiani, Denver
D – Matt Gilroy, Boston
D – David Warsofsky, Boston
G – Kieran Millan, Boston
MVP – Matt Gilroy, Boston
Somebody forgot to tell the University of Denver hockey team that the Christmas holiday season was over. The result was a gift-wrapped tie against Holy Cross and a lethargic effort against Boston University on Saturday night in the Denver Cup finale.
Boston jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period and never looked back. A goal by Rhett Rakhshani late in the second period gave DU some hope, but it was extinguished on a face off goal by BU's Brandon Yip moments later.
The eight game unbeaten streak is now a distant memory and DU has many questions to answer. Thank God the WCHA Tournament winner gets an NCAA auto bid. DU may need it.
BoxscoreFirst Star: Matt Gilroy (Boston University)
Pairwise, KRACH & PWR Rankings
Denver Post game recap
Rocky Mountain News game recap
USCHO.com game recap
Boston Globe game recap
Second Star: Brandon Yip (Boston University)
Third Star: Kieran Millan (Boston University)
12 comments:
DU has Mich. Tech next weekend. If there's any team DU'd want to rebound against, it's Tech...
We were at the game ... the passing game was absolutely awful. That second BU goal was the result of a good DU pass shot to a player who turned his back to saunter off to the bench for a shift change, and was picked off by a BU player.
In the second, a crisp DU pass saw the intended receiver actually duck, instead of handling it.
Just awful play all around.
Practice ain't gonna be pretty for DU...Gwoz needs to light a fire under their asses...
Congrats to BU and especially Holy Cross who came out of the Denver Cup smelling 1-0-1.
All we know after this weekend is DU is good in the shootout and we miss Bozak.
Mullen missed most of the third period, so we'll need to montior that situation.
Nice interview with Stastny during the game. Good to see him showing some school pride. :-)
Disappointing weekend for DU. From what I saw the Pioneers looked out of sync and off their game this Denver Cup. Not sure if it was rust, a lack of chemistry w/o Bozak, or something else. In all fairness, they were beaten by a better team tonight, but I don't think they competed as hard as they needed to in order to beat a team the caliber of BU. After a less than satisfying tie vs Holy Cross tonight's game was a letdown. BU worked hard and earned this win while DU looked complacent for parts of the game.
Losing their own tournament is a kick in the teeth, but it's time to move on.
Looking ahead, DU has 14 games games remaining in the regular season, all against WCHA opponents. DU gets a struggling Tech team here next weekend. I think a sweep is a must. Then a bye, then a road series in always-hostile Grand Forks. UND, however, appears to be a very beatable team this year. January concludes with a home series against what appears to be a much-improved UAA team. The Pios will be on the road for most of February.
The next 2 months will be very interesting. The momentum gained before the break has stalled a bit and DU needs to get it back starting next weekend.
DU will rebound and will be OK. While it is disappointing not to win your own tournament, it is not a big deal in the scheme of things. There was good pressure on BU throughout the 3rd period and absent stellar goaltending the score easily could have been tied. If they had bagged the 3rd period I would have been concerned but they did not. The team is slowly beginning to realize that Boz is gone for the season and that everyone needs to step it up. There is an immense amount of talent on this team - they just need to step up and take the bull by the horns.
DU didn't come prepared for this game. BU out skated, out hit and shoved DU's usual game right back in their face and made them eat the ice. Ya I know this was BU we were up against, I know they are that damn good, but I expect DU to play their best and they didn't. Everyone including the players know it.
Tech next week, you might say we should bounce back against them however, I've seen it over the past 3 seasons where they start hot then go into a 2nd half skid that is painful just to watch. Gwoz better have a formula to counter it because everyone is tired of seeing worthless hockey.
It wasn't as awful as the Holy Cross game but it was NOT a good showing by the Pios. DU can play better than this and they know it. Hope Gwoz pushes they this week before the Mich. Tech series.
The passing was horrible, how many times were they reaching behind them for the puck. BU played defense like Holy Cross, they gave DU the perimeter shot, but wouldn't let them in close.
Was Mullen hurt???
Mullen was slammed hard, head first, into the glass behind the BU net in the second and was VERY woozy heading for the bench, he nearly collapsed trying to get over the boards, we couldn't tell if it was a head injury or if he got his glove slammed into his gut and just got the wind knocked out of him ... but we were right above the bench when he came in, and he didn't look good.
Ruegsegger's comments pretty much sum up the weekend. Not winning the tournament is certainly not the end of the world, but I was really shocked that DU didn't come out flying against BU. Defending the Denver Cup, on home ice in front of a big crowd, vs a big name school that's currently a top 5 team (from a power conference), plus the PWR implications....all the ingredients were there for a great showing.
I expect DU to come back next weekend and play well and play with some urgency/sustained effort. Before the team realizes it they wake up and it's March 1 and they may not be in the best of positions in terms of the postseason.
DU will get better. They had a bad weekend. They had a bad weekend vs St. Cloud as well, but came back to win 7 in a row. A sweep against MTU will get them back on track.
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